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Every period takes stock of the one preceding it and the past that was good enough for the fathers never seems good enough for the children no matter how idyllic it may seem to the great-grandchildren.

— Josephine Herbst The Ruins of Memory (1956)

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More quotes by Josephine Herbst

There is no such thing as a writer untouched by his time. Even the most inner experience is a response to some outside.

The Ruins of Memory (1956)

Guilt is real, it is serious, but when it becomes also a fashion, there is corruption.

The Ruins of Memory (1956)

Literary epochs come and go but this wave seems to have frozen in the cold war.

The Ruins of Memory (1956)

Writing should be dangerous: as dangerous as Socrates. There should be no refuge for the writer either in the Ivory Tower or the Social Church.

The Ruins of Memory (1956)

Roving was good for the writer; to have been a reporter undoubtedly informed Ring Lardner, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Crane. To know far more than he may ever use is imperative for the writer.

The Ruins of Memory (1956)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Josephine Herbst (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.